A coalition of health groups has launched a new campaign to ask voters in November to increase California's tax on cigarettes by $2 per pack, this time enlisting deep-pocket supporters to counter a tobacco industry that blocked several attempts in the past.

What a difference a bad year makes. Executives at UnitedHealth Group initially voiced optimism about their prospects on the Affordable Care Act's insurance exchanges. The nation's largest health insurer foresaw a big role for individual plans in its business model.

When Sienna D'Andrea was just two months old, her mother Raquel got the shock of her life."The cardiologist said, 'Go home, pack your bags, your daughter needs surgery today.'"

The Obama administration unveiled two broad initiatives Friday aimed at combating discrimination against transgender Americans in schools and health-care coverage, affirming the president’s goal of elevating transgender protections to one of the central civil rights issues of his presidency.

A federal agency on Monday released final rules on how employers can offer workers financial incentives of up to 30 percent of the cost of their cheapest health insurance plans to participate in wellness programs without violating federal laws protecting the confidentiality of medical information.

The politics of Obamacare aren't all that complicated. Republicans have called for the Affordable Care Act to be "repealed and replaced" for years, with only sporadic attempts to articulate what the replacement would be.